Our current projects continue to explore numerous aspects of the systematic significance, genetics, metabolism and function of secondary compounds in higher plants. In addition, we are now investigating the chemistry and biochemistry of pheromones (including mammalian pheromones) and the chemical basis of plant-insect interactions. We continue to be interested in the role of natural products in ecosystems and how they control the interactions of plants with other plants as well as their interactions with animals and microorganisms. Here we comment only on a few projects which will serve to illustrate the direction of some of our investigations, especially those emphasizing biochemical systematic studies and techniques developed during the course of these studies. Our biochemical systematic studies continue to involve the gene biogenesis and metabolism of betalains and L-dopa, applications of DNA- DNA and DNA-RNA hybridization to evolutionary problems, the flavonoid chemistry of Pityrogramma taxa, the chemistry of genetic lines of flax (Linum usitatissimum), the chemistry and systematics of Oenothera, the development of new NMR procedures for natural product analysis and the development of GC-MS capability.